A second excellent book. Plays loosely with some of the history, but makes up for this by noting some of this in the epilogue. ( )

I loved learning more about Caesar's life, and was especially grateful for the notes at the end of each book clarifying where the author deviated from history. This entire series was a great read. ( )

i love this book! I'm surprised how much i enjoyed it as i am not particularly into 'warfare' but it was so well written it got my completely hooked and i'm very pleased to have discovered a new author for myself to get into! I know it isn't 100% historically accurate but the author does point this out. ( )

The Death of Kings is the second in Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series telling a (highly) fictionalized version of the life of Julius Caesar.

This one begins a few months after The Gates of Rome. Julius is part of a naval party preparing to storm a captured fortress and rescue a governor. Marcus (now Brutus) is a proud centurion on a quest to meet the mother who abandoned him.

As with the first, historical fact takes a back seat to exciting, fast-paced story-telling as Caesar battles pirates, a renegade Greek king and ultimately takes on Spartacus and his slave army to round out the volume. Back biting, gamesmanship and politics take much more precedence in this book as we follow the rise and fall of Sulla as the Dictator of Rome and its’ bloody aftermath.

One thing I’ve noticed more in this book than the last is that the secondary characters wind up being more fleshed out and equally as interesting as Julius himself. Alexandria builds a nice life for herself in Rome and brings Octavian into the story as a young child living a touch life on the streets of Rome. Tibruk accomplishes a mighty task and becomes one of the most admirable characters in the story and senators Pompey, Crassus and Cato are all given their moments to shine. Julius isn’t forgotten though. We see him homesick when he’s captured by pirates to be held for ransom. We see his tremendous self assurance throughout the novel as well as some fear and doubt as a result of a problematic head wound.

Mr. Iggulden’s writing is as full-blooded and exciting this time out as it was before. Scenes of the storming of Mytilene, battles with pirates and the raids on Mithradates enormous army leap off the page. It’s not just battles that are gripping though. Caesar’s trial reclaim his fallen uncle’s house (and good name) and struggles in the Senate regarding just what to do about Spartacus are just was exciting as the battles that bookend them.

Also in here he shows very well written and atmospheric scenes of life in Rome, both good and bad. Vivid depictions of creeping through the filthy back alleys of Rome to meet an assassin and bits of opulence in a brothel and Octavian’s troubles with murderous bullies bring the city to life. Even heroic characters are shown to be brutal by today’s standards. Pompey’s revenge chilled me as much as what he was getting revenge for.

I did notice that Mr. Iggulden seems to set Julius slightly apart from the other characters. While Pompey is shown to take pleasure in his violent and bloody revenge, Caesar comes off as more sensitive. I’m not really sure if this was fair to the character, though it is understandable that he is trying to humanize a guy that could easily become a superhero.

I’ve been thinking a lot about whether the (sometimes huge) departures from history really harm this series. Many people seem to slam these books for their changes. But really, do these same sorts of changes make Brian De Palma’s Untouchables, Frank Miller’s 300 or Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus any less works of art?

As with the first book, The Death of Kings is a rousing and well-written adventure story that happens to be about Julius Caesar. It isn’t historically accurate, but at the very least may spark a layman’s interest in ancient history. I plan to continue reading this series and whatever other novels Mr. Iggulden has waiting in the wings. ( )

This was a harder book to read than the first book. I'm not sure why, but perhaps it was because this book was more about adults than children, making the topics hit closer to home. The characters were still extremely well-developed, although there were a few parts that shocked me with their lack of insight into the whys and wherefores (sorry, no details because they would be spoilers). I also wish that Spartacus had been developed a bit more. The ending this time did not seem as abrupt as the ending of the first book, which I appreciated. Overall, however, a very good sequel to the first. I am still very pleased with the saga as a whole and will definitely be reading the rest. ( )